Illiterates of tomorrow
Interesting to note that students develop more writing skills updating their profiles in social networking sites and writing blogs.
When I studied (a few decades ago), my writing was exposed to my teacher(s) only. I wonder how it would have changed, if I had to write to show it to the whole class.
Margaret Evered, a CIPS consultant and member, said that computer classes should be mandatory for all students at as many levels of high school as possible. “There will be a huge divide. The (people who don't know how to use computers) will be the illiterates of tomorrow,” she said.
This survey is interesting. It has some interesting implications. Even though this survey was done in Canada, there are similar patterns that exist in other countries, including India.
May be there is an opportunity here. Turning professionals into mentors and part time trainers may be one way to help out a bit.
When I studied (a few decades ago), my writing was exposed to my teacher(s) only. I wonder how it would have changed, if I had to write to show it to the whole class.
Margaret Evered, a CIPS consultant and member, said that computer classes should be mandatory for all students at as many levels of high school as possible. “There will be a huge divide. The (people who don't know how to use computers) will be the illiterates of tomorrow,” she said.
Girls could perhaps be more attracted to computer
science if it had more of a visual component or a teamwork aspect that
make social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook so popular,
Evered said. Classes that generally mixed the straight computer science
with the softer skills of web design and visual communications, along
with the possible teamwork required to create them, could make for a
more rounded student -- and future IT professional.
There is another angle on the relevance of what you learn. Besides some basic computer and programming skills, the most essential skill to develop is the ability to explore and solve problems. This is as true in computer science as it is in other disciplines.Any progress can also be dragged back by higher education's habit of teaching outmoded programming languages that aren't used commercially anymore, according to Evered.
If students manage to break into the workforce, they might hit yet another wall. One of the first things to go during budget cutbacks, according to Evered, is training. Companies also often don't choose to invest in training their own IT staff in new programs or skill sets, preferring instead to hire a new person. “You move into a job and getting considerable training? That's a thing of the past,” said Fium.
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